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Future Surprise
Entrance to Autobot City The vast atrium of Autobot City's entranceway stands before you. When Metroplex is not in residence, this area doubles as a military spaceport. Large towers relay information from around the globe and keeps the spaceport in contact with Earth's solar system outposts and the rest of the known universe. Security cameras and gun emplacements surrounding the entrance make sure that only those who are welcome enter. Scorch marks and small holes in the wall are reminders of the last battle here for Autobot City. When Metroplex is not present, a gate allows easy passage to and from the battle station's facilities. The Space Bridge to Cybertron is constantly monitored by solemn-faced personnel. To the north is the landing pad for flights to and from Earth. There's quite a crowd of Autobots gathered outside the entrance of Autobot City at the moment. A raised Podium/stage area has been set up just in front of main pathway that leads into the fortress/city, and the grand form of Metroplex's cityscape stretches out behind the stage, upon which stands Rodimus and Ultra Magnus, the two currently in the middle of some quiet conversation back and forth as they wait to begin. Military and civilian Autobot alike mix and rub shoulder to shoulder, some of them murmuring about rumors and what they suspect this is all about. Obviously the most common thoughts is that it must have -something- to do with the alleged recent 'time travelling' adventure that Rodimus and several other Autobots were off on. Could it be that something didn't go according to plan afterall and they're about to spill the beans on it? Or maybe that the problem is even worse than one thought. Some are of course, just here for an excuse to get a break from their duties too. Meetings like this may sometimes be dull, but it beats sitting and staring at a security monitor or scrubbing off Metroplex's gears during a maintenance cycle. Penumbra has his arms folded, one lifted so a finger can idly stroke his metal 'stache as he chit chats with a civilian from Crystal City. "So that was the third time I ditched a hot ship in the Grebox Acid Nebula." Sit-Com mills around, as one of the few Junkions in the assembly. "Curiouser and curiouser," he murmurs. Impactor is amongst the crowd, arms folded, looking up at the podium by the entrance to Autobot City. He doesn't look too impressed by whatever this announcement is going to be. He suspects it's something along the lines of an archaeological alliance with the Earth natives to better investigate the site where all the time travel nonsense occurred. Since returning to the present, Impactor has spent his time getting caught up on paperwork via the time honoured tradition of yelling at Hot Spot to do all his paperwork for him. After that, he'd been doing three things: 1. chilling in Metroplex's lounge, 2. Wondering why the heck the ener-liquor cabinet isn't better stocked, and 3. planning a trip to Bar Moon. These three things may be related. Hardhead slowly moves his way around the milling Transformers. He eyes each of the mechs as he finally finds a spot to stand that seems clear enough. He continues to scan the crowd as he crosses his arms over his chest. Spindrift is as usual easy to overlook, since he tends to keep out of the way anyways. The dillo-tape has found himself a nice quiet corner to sit and listen for the most part. Not really concerned with watching. When your optic level is at everyone else's feet, you learn to put more effort into hearing than trying to see past everyone. Amber MacKenzie keeps her own counsel for now as she casually mingles with the military side of things, her overprotective father never leaving her side. Connor MacKenzie has no intentions of letting anything else happen to his little girl, however much he annoys her, and has taken leave from Alameda to be here. Amber is both grateful and exasperated. Fortress Maximus stands within the gathered crowd of attendees with a datapad in hand, keying in documents as he passes his time. It's a change of pace for the Headmaster leader, having returned from the fringe deep space colony of which he had been leading a year long campaign and only returning due to recent circumstances. Eventually Fortress Maximus concludes his work and transmits the documents, presumably reports and other things, off into the computer networks and surveys his surroundings once more for any changes since he had started his work earlier. Torque is among the mingling crowd gathered before the podium outside the city, the femme more or less going over a few things with some other medics before having to pull herself away, politely elbowing her way through the crowd to get a better look past all the taller mechs. With Impactor's color scheme easily spotted among the swarm, Torque makes her way over, feeling a little better if she's standing beside one of the Bots she went back in time with if that's what the meeting it about. Hand raises to push the brim of her helmet up a little with a thumb as she looks onward at Prime and Magnus before glancing up at the Wrecker, the femme's antenna's twitching in agitation. "..You think this is gonna be good news or bad new?" She mutters to him, gaze wandering forward once more. "Bad news," Repugnus offers, shouldering his way through the crowd until he reaches Impactor and Torque. "Yep, ol' Roddy musta borked something good in the past, and it turns out that the Decepticon Empire rules half the galaxy now and wesa all gonna die." He grins, and wraps his arms around them both in an impromptu group hug. "But at least we can all die together, right?" Rodimus Prime has a few more words with Magnus back and forth, some heavy discussion taking place before they both nod in agreement. Every so often one of them glances towards the center of the podium, where an access hatch has been placed to allow for a freight elevator from below to be able to rise up freely, though just what it's there for remains to be seen. Squaring his shoulders, the young Prime steps to the front of the podium. Arms rise up, calling for silence among the murmuring crowd. When he's satisfied that he can be heard, Rodimus gives a quick smile before he begins, "Thank you all for coming. I promise I'm going to keep this relatively straightforward and short." Hands slowly fold behind his back then as he takes a more comfortable stance, "As most of you are no doubt aware by now, I and several other Autobots..." he nods towards where he spots Impactor and Torque in the crowd, and several humans were inadvertently sent through that temporal disturbance to four million years ago. The post was not an exaggeration, nor was it me losing my mind, as tempting as that might be to assume. I won't go into the series of events here, because that would take too long to outline in great detail. But suffice it to say after more than a few very close calls, we appeared to be able to put things back to the way they should be. This was due, in no small part, to the help of many of those who live on in our memories as legends, including Optimus Prime himself, who knowing what would happen in the future, still agreed that they needed to have their memories of us and the past events involving us erased." Rod pauses, to let that sink in. "When it was all said and done, we were able to literally sleep our way through time back to this point. And as a precaution, I brought with us the Quintesson device that was used to erase the past Autobots' minds, to prevent any chance that those memories would get out where they could do serious damage again. It was my intention when we got back here, that I would destroy the machine and finish that chapter entirely. But then I found some interesting files in it, that required I go into discussions with Ultra Magnus and Kup." Impactor glances over at Torque as Rodimus starts talking. He's still listening to the flaming one even as he chats with her and Repugnus. He gives Torque's question a moment's consideration. "I'll go with good, but dull news. Maybe we're allies with some new gutless alien species on the other side of the galaxy now or something." He shakes his head at the Monsterbot. "Nah. That was the first thing I checked when we got back." His tone suggests he isn't trying to make a joke. He looks up at Rodimus as he gives some exposition for those that weren't along for the 'adventure'. His interest becomes piqued at the end, though. Some files...? Fortress Maximus rubs the back of his helmed head in awe, "I've only read bits of the reports, but I still can't even begin to imagine the honour it must have been to fight beside Optimus Prime and the other legendary figures of our past." The Headmaster leader comments to the immediate Autobots around him, his tone quiet but with a definite trace of envy. With that said, Fortress Maximus returns his attention back to Rodimus Prime and await the continuation of the Autobot leader's speech. Sit-Com gives the Autobot Leader his rapt and undivided attention. A mercy he thought to bring along a KNUJ microphone! Hardhead absorbs Rodimus' speech as he continues to scan the crowd. His optic bar flashes as he processes the information about Quintesson device. "Temporal Mechanics...." He mutters to himself as he stops scanning the crowd to thing. "Sounds like nerdy, Highbrow stuff..." He spies Fort Max and offers him a slight wave, but doesn't make his way to him. Amber MacKenzie makes her way closer to the stage, her father in tow. She, too, wants to hear this. Something big, if he's announcing it to the entire planet. A thought occurs to her, and she starts glancing around. Lowering her voice, she mutters, "Dad, keep an eye out. I'd suspect that some sneaky Decepticon types might want to attend this press conference." The elder MacKenzie is all for removing her from any potential danger, and a whispered argument ensues. Torque's antennas perk when Repugnus comes up alongside her and Impactor, even pulling them both into a hug which she ultimately tolerates. She just snorts softly at the Monsterbot, "Kind of doubtful, Repugnus. We put a lot of effort to have things run as they should while we slept." Impactor's answer makes a little more sense though, the femme nodding in his direction. But then Rodimus starts his speech, her attention brught back up to the Prime as he speaks. The mention of files has her quirking a brow however. "Files? Wonder if it's something the squid didn't tell us about..." Dust Devil manages to show up fashionably late....well late to the proceedings. Weaseling his way through the crowd, he disappears behind some larger bots to appear behind Spindrift. Grinning, he picks up Spindrift to try and balance him on his shoulder. "Figured you'd find a nice spot ta watch everything." Spindrift gives Dust Devil an appreciative nod as he's given a better position to watch from. "Thanks pal." Rodimus Prime falls silent again for a few moments, looking out at the crowd in turn. Understandably most of them don't know what's going on beyond what Rodimus has already told them happened in the past. And of course, they have no idea where he's going with this, so there's more than a bit of confused murmuring passing through the mulling bodies. "Ultra Magnus, Kup and I spent a long time in discussion about what to do with what we found in the machine, after we confirmed it for ourselves. We turned the moral implications over and over, and in the end we all came to the same agreement about what to do." Turning in place, Rodimus now walks back to the other side of the podium, opposite of Ultra Magnus with the freight elevator between them. An odd smile comes onto the Autobot Leader's face as he crosses his arms over his chest. "The circumstances around this are a little complicated, and I'm sure some of you may have more than a few questions after this...and they'll be answered in due time. But I'm done beating around the bush about this." With that, Rodimus pulls out a small remote and hits a button on the device, as the freight elevator in the center a heavy *THUNK* and starts to rise up from below. "So I'll just let him reintroduce himself." Fortress Maximus catches a glimpse of Hardhead's wave and returns with an acknowledging nod of his own. He then enthusiastically folds his arm across his chest as he awaits for Rodimus Prime's follow up, "My words the things I've seen and done on the fringe worlds are mundane compared to what these Autobots have experienced." Repugnus awwwwws. "I was hoping Fearless Leader would doom us all. Man, I've been waiting for that to happen ever since I got back. Dammit all! Well, anyway, Impactor, sorry I didn't join you in the past but I naturally assumed that that portal was actually a gateway to a black hole or something, and I didn't none 'a that. Ah well." He grins over at Maximus. "Oh, believe me, Optimus really knows how to pound on somebody. I know from experience!" The lift rises up to the podium, that's nothing new or unusual. Just a bit of time delay for the dramatic. Because the form that does come up on the lift is certainly going to be getting some unusual looks. But to those that have studied their history, have been around long enough, and especially those that just came back from their jaunt into the past, the white and grey form with the red and green racing stripes down the center of his chest is -very- familiar. Not to mention the very distinct head design. "Well, isn't this slightly awkward of a moment. Hello again, fellas!" Repugnus was about to make snarky remark at the reveal, like maybe scream "DULL SURPRISE!" as loud as he could, but... even he is shocked. His mouth hangs open dumbly, and his arms drop to his sides. Penumbra forgives the dramatic tackiness of the 'reveal' for the overwhelming awesomeness of the object of the show. He quietly drawls "Weeeeell...isn't this the Femaxian felines flanks?" Spindrift leans forward a bit from Dust Devil's shoulder to see what's being brought up to the stage... and falls right off when he loses his grip in surprise, thumping lightly on the floor at Dusty's feet. Impactor's mind races as he considers what files Rodimus might be talking about. It could be a million things, Impactor, he tells himself. What are the odds it could be about what you did. Impactor has had a lot of practice suppressing any guilt he has, and he uses that skill now. C'mon, Rodimus. Quit telling us about how you're not going to draw this out longer than it has to be and stop drawing this out. Maybe Prime's just enjoying watching him twist in the wind. Then, finally, the surprise is revealed. Impactor's expression doesn't change, remaining a deep scowl. He doesn't seem to hear Repugnus's comment, as he doesn't even acknowledge it. Wheeljack. His mind starts racing again. Impactor mutters something under his mechanical breath, but it's too quiet to make out. It may be tough to tell, but he's as shocked as anyone. Fortress Maximus responds to Repugnus' comments with an amused expression, "You sure are something, to be able to experience that from Optimus himself." The Headmaster leader replies half jokingly, most likely assuming Repugnus was joking about that. Surely Repugnus was joking... right? As Wheeljack steps out into the open, all idle talk from Fortress Maximus ceases and is replaced with a look of absolute surprise, "Oh my stars, how can this be?" Hardhead optic bar flashes as he spies the form that appears as the surprise. "Primus..." His arms fall to his sides. "How is this ever possible..." Dust Devil is so shocked himself that well....he misses catching poor Spindrift. The thump at his feet breaks him out of whatever thoughts were going through his head and he quickly stoops to pick Spindrift back up. He frowns, as confusion overcomes the awe. "But he died while I was stuck on the asteroid..." Torque is almost just as awe-struck as Repugnus, her optics widening when the oh so familiar form of Wheeljack rises up with the lift, her antennas pointing straight up in sheer surprise. But this quickly subsides, a grin overtaking her, the orange tips of her antennas nearly flickering in delight. "Wheeljack!" Talk about a blast from the past. Ducking from Repugnus and Impactor she almost steamrolls the crowd to get to the front, shouldering easily past mechs several times her size before stopping up front. "Wheeljack, how... How are you even here?? This is amazing!" Amber MacKenzie's conversation with her father, and its cause, are forgotten. Stunned disbelief gradually morphs into delight. "Wheeljack," she whispers. "Ohhhhhh, one of them was saved after all." She fights back the tears, remembering the ones who *didn't* make it, but she's still passionately grateful that at least one of those ancient heroes made it. Rodimus Prime waits until the elevator has come to a complete and total stop before he steps forward. Safety first afterall. One hand rises up to rest on one shoulder of the mad inventor reborn, a reassuring pat given for good measure as there's more than a few stares coming their way. Indeed, ALL optics are right now centered on Wheeljack, and there's more than a few shocked murmurings sweeping through the crowd like a tidal wave by this point. Rodimus lets it all happen for a minute or so before he raises his voice to ensure he's heard, "No, you're not imagining things. This is exactly the Autobot you're seeing here in front of us right now. Some of you know him in person. Some of you knew of him from the archives, but almost all of you have at least heard of him. There's no mistake here, there's no illusion. This is Wheeljack. OUR Wheeljack. No, we did -not- bring him forward in our 4-million year sleep with us." Another few moments pass as Rodimus pats Wheeljack a second time on the shoulder, then removes his hand and takes a half a step back. "Maybe he can sum up an explanation better than I can." Sit-Com boggles. Wheeljack? He's alive? He hasn't been cloned? Or secretly resurrected by Secret Junkion Shiny Buff Solution? The Junkion stands there speechless. "It's because I'm so charming," Repugnus absent-mindedly deadpans to Maximus as he stares at Wheeljack. "Uh... so... well. Apparently we're raising the dead now? Wow. But hey, I've always been in favor of it..." Hardhead just stares at Wheeljack, this seems to have caused the Headmaster a great deal of confusion. He continues to watch the events unfold. Wheeljack's 'ears' flash a few times as he chuckles at Rodimus, rubbing the back of his head with one hand. "Seeing as technically I already did explain it once, how about we just use that one, hmm?" He walks over to one of the video displays they always have on stages for this sort of event... and stops to stare at it for a moment. Or at how advanced it is, more likely. "... This must be how humans feel trying to program their VCR," he murmurs mostly to himself, leans halfway behind the stand. "Nevermind, found the data access port!" Pulling out a data-chip from an arm compartment, he plugs it into the interface and steps back. The viewer crackles to life with a bit of digital static, just another technological reminder that you're watching something recorded a good four million and some odd years ago and on hardware ancient even by Cybertronian standards. It finally mostly clears up to a head and shoulders shot of Wheeljack, whom manages to look and sound about as serious as a guy who's only readable facial features are optics and those flashy lights on the sides of his helm. "If you're watching this Rodimus, good, that means you all got back to the appropriate timeframe as intended. And you found the message I left behind" Lights flicker a bit as he chuckles, before getting serious again. "I'll get to the reason for this in a moment. Just glad that you all made it home safely to be seeing this in the first place." "As for this message, well, as Optimus' successor you're the one I know will do the right thing with it." There's a pause as he glances off to the sides, likely making sure none of the other Autobots are eavesdropping, then leans closer to the recording device, as pointless as that is. "It wasn't just to prevent the Decepticons or your Quintesson friend from getting ahold of it that I told you to take the memory reformatting device with you to the future. While we were making the modifications to the device I realized it wasn't a memory erasing device initially, but a core transcriptor. According to Archaeonix, if recapturing certain famous Transformers didn't work, Plan B was to copy their laser cores then make new versions without free-will in the future. Good thing -that- didn't work out, eh? The thing is, the only way we're going to be able to power the device long enough to erase the memories of all us old timers is to hook it directly to someone's laser core. If I'm reading these circuits right, there's a possibility that the power surge through the device from doing so will trigger the transcripting hardware, and I can't remove it without ruining the device... So instead, I decided to bank a little extra insurance, since my, well, the past me, will still have his memories erased. So if it -does- happen.. Well, you're from a point in time where it wouldn't matter because the important effects of certain events have already happened.." There's another brief pause, and then Wheeljack chuckles a bit more. "Time travel's a bit of a sticky mess like that. We still have no idea if the stable time loop is how we fixed the problem, or how things actually happened. In the end it's all just kind of relevant to perspective, and I'm not going to bore you with all the technical mumble-jumble." He gives it a dismissive wave of his hand. "The important thing is that I decided to bank a little extra insurance in case this does happen to work. Like I said, you're from a point in the timeline it won't matter, since the important results will have already occurred." He winks an optic, then lifts one hand into a salute. "I'm sure you'll know how to handle the matter. Until the future, Autobots. Wheeljack, out." And it dissolves back into digital static. Wheeljack leans on the display stand casually. "Long story short, the transcript on the device, being taken from a laser core directly, was enough to revitalize one, and repair my body with it from the damage previously done that... well you know." He glances over the audience for a moment, and gives Impactor a long look.. and maybe a hint of an unseen glint in his optics in doing so. Penumbra pauses for a bit... and then calls out, "I love it when a plan comes together! Welcome back Wheeljack!" Fortress Maximus takes a moment to process the bomb shell of a revelation that was just dropped on the crowd, but eventually he regains composure and fires off the question that's on his mind since the reveal, "Just how much do you remember, Wheeljack? Do you remember the times after you were reactivated on the Ark with Optimus and the others as history had recorded?" Impactor stares at Wheeljack, and then stares at the viewer. He listens to the whole explanation of how Wheeljack is here. His expression still hasn't changed, but he does turn his head enough to meet Wheeljack's glance. He'll hold onto his questions until the others are done. Sit-Com hms. "A ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff," he says. "Wheeljack remembers everything." Rodimus nods from where he stands, arms crossed over his chest now. "Well, other than the obvious of course. This imprint of him that was left behind in the machine had his memories intact, so he recalls those events of four million years ago. He remembers us all fixing up the timezone. He also remembers the events of the Battle of Autobot City up until well...you know." At that, he nods towards the mad inventory for good measure. "Ultra Magnus, Kup and myself did everything we could to fill him in on the -really- important stuff after he was brought back online, with just a few hours to work with. It goes without saying that he's got a lot of catching up to do though." And that's when Rodimus sweeps his gaze to the crowd, tilting his head to one side and half grinning, "So try to take it easy on the poor guy, alright?" Hardhead rubs his jaw as he processes this information. "It's a trap..." Both of his hands drop to his side and his hands clench into fists as looks more and more agitated. "Just amazing.. who would have thought the device could do that too." Torque says quietly as she watches the recording of the past Wheeljack. She'd hold her questions for when things more or less died down, so for now she just looks up to Wheeljack, grinning once more. "Guess that means we'll have to set you up with a new lab, eh? I'm sure we can find a room for you to do your experiments in. Or just build one." Dust Devil finally grins brightly. "This is gonna be AWESOME! I wonder how long it takes Wheeljack to make Metro complain to Rod about his internal workings bein’ crispied with Wheeljack explodin’ stuff again!" He tosses Spindrift up into the air and hopefully catches him again. Repugnus adds, "Preferably a room triple-reinforced against your inevitably catastrophic experiments, Wheeljack..." He catches the look Wheeljack and Impactor share, and gives his boss a weird look. Spindrift gets tossed up and down a few times like a party favor to celebrate. He's actually kind of use to this. Considering he's at least once been strung up by Blaster and Jazz as a substitute disco ball when he slept through a party. Amber MacKenzie sends a radio message to Rodimus Prime: Rodimus, you might keep an eye on the poor guy. It was over 25 years ago for you, but only just now for him. He might need time to grieve and be comforted, however good of a show he's putting on now. Maybe an eventual visit to the Mausoleum to give them a proper goodbye... Amber MacKenzie receives a radio message from Rodimus Prime: I know. We're going to take it easy on him, though he knows what's happened, and I think had clued in to quite a bit of it even back in the past. But he can take this at his own pace and knows we're all here for him. Wheeljack's a good bot, and he knows we're glad to have him back. We're all here for him. Wheeljack laughs in response to Rodimus as he stands up straight again. "Take it easy. Right. Betcha I can blow up a lab in less than two days, just like old times!" Though after the joke he rubs his chin plate looking off thoughtfully for a moment. ".. Well, I would, but we designed Autobot City's research section to be a lot less blast vulnerable. I wonder if anyone else claimed the sector that was supposed to be my assignment..." Just goes to show that yes he does have those memories too. ...That everyone else is apparently thinking the same thing when it comes to exploding experiments just makes him chuckle a bit more. "Maybe I better apologize beforehand for all the times those of you in Medical are going to have to possibly piece me back together after the 'trial and error' research!" Hardhead stares daggers into Wheeljack as he seems visibly upset. "How do we know this isn't a Quint trap...Those creepy tentacle monsters are devious..." Fortress Maximus looks over to Torque with a hearty grin, "If he's anything like his reputation, I'll have to build him a sturdy workshop indeed." The Headmaster leader shifts his glance over to Wheeljack, "It's great to have you back, Wheeljack. Just let me know what facilities you need to make you feel at home again and I'll arrange for my staffs to provide it." Whirl gasps. "Wheeljack?!" Impactor finally unfolds his arms. And his expression changes as he starts to relax. Excellent. Wheeljack figured out a way to save himself. Unfortunately it isn't enough for the other Autobots who were fated to perish, but this is still far better than he ever could have hoped. He ignores Repugnus's weird look. Penumbra blinks over at Hardhead... who apparently hasn't been listening to /every/ word. Rodimus Prime overhears Hardhead's words among all the other murmurings, and tilts his head in that direction. After a few moments, Rodimus leaps down from the podium and walks a bit through the crowd to get closer to him. "You're right Hardhead, the Quintessons -are- tricky. But if this WAS a Quintesson trick? I don't think it exactly went according to Archaeonix's plans in that case. If this was in any way shape or form a fake, it wouldn't have worked. That lasercore pulsing in Wheeljack's body right now is the same one that's been in there the whole time. Only the absolute original imprint could possibly reactivate it again." A pause and then Rodimus grimaces a bit. "...at least that's sort of how the technical talk that was given to me went." With that, he looks back to the others. "I -did- say that Ultra Magnus, Kup and I talked long and hard about this. And this very thought had come up on our minds. In the end, we decided, based on the evidence in front of us, to give it a try. We owed Wheeljack that much." He smiles just faintly. "And I for one am glad we did. In the end, it was a decision to make, we made it, and we'll live with it." He looks back to Hardhead once more, as if looking for any objections. Dust Devil catches the Spinadillo. "Hardhead, it'll be easy ta tell if this is the real Wheeljack. Let him work in the lab. If he can explode it in under 5 minutes, it’s the real deal!" Impactor finally speaks up. "What was the other option you considered?" Hardhead scowls as Rodimus Prime moves closer to him. He listens intently to his Commander in Chief as he lays out the situation. His scowl deepens as he listens. "Deactivated is Deactivated. Just because we can't contemplate how this isn't a trap doesn't mean it isn't a trap." He levels a finger at Prime. "It is clear you believe this is fine." His optics flash as he turns his attention to Wheeljack for a moment. "I will be watching you..." His voice seems to carry a level of coldness. "Don't be too hard on him for being wary, Rodimus," Wheeljack calls after the Prime. "It -is- a kinda peculiar situation, even I'd admit that. Besides, if Cliffjumper was here he'd probably be trying to call me a spy and shoot me." To which he chuckles, and leans on the stand again. "Just like old times..." "Eh, any injuries that happen are more than made up for by having yah back with us, Wheeljack. It's good to have another brilliant mind on our side, explosions or not." Torque smirks, also nodding to Maximus at the mention of building a workshop. "If yah need help with that feel free to let me know. I'm as good with a welder on a building as I am on a patient." Whirl edges his way over to Impactor and then nudges him. Whirl mutters to Impactor, "... him?... of the..." Repugnus frowns at Impactor, then gives him a slug on the shoulder. "I caught that. Don't you think I didn't catch that, Impactor. Anyway, I don't think this is a trap unlike Captain Paranoia over there, but, uh, I am wondering, Roddymouse... where is this Quintesson? And did you save enough for me?" "I understand your misgivings, Hardhead. And they're not without merit." Rodimus says, arms crossing over his chest again as he glances back and forth between the crowd and the podium. "But I made the call. And that's how it will be." Impactor's question does draw a tilt of his head, "Other options? I suppose there was of course destroying the machine as originally intended. And taking no chances whatsoever. Though I won't lie that that option was put on the shelf pretty quickly when we realized what we had our hands on here. The other option was to simply put it all under lock and key until...well, for good I guess." Impactor says, "Good choice." "Any new evidence as to what happened to Archaeonix?" Amber MacKenzie asks, expanding on Repugnus's question. Wheeljack hops down off the stage to mingle as it were himself finally. Which is to give Torque a clasp on the shoulder. "I know, I saw your work helping modify those hydrofoils. Almost wish we'd had you around to help knock some sense into the Dinobots when we first got them up and going. Might have to go see if there's any stuff left around the Ark to dig up." To which he pauses and looks waaaaaaay up at Fort Max. "Speaking of, Rodimus said you guys rebuilt Iacon again recently. You're gonna have to show me around sometime. It was still a mess the last time I ever saw it." He's certainly adjusting to the situation easily enough... but then again, he's never been the most cautious or stingent of sorts. It gets in the way of inventing too much. Spindrift reclaims his perch on Dust Devil's shoulder after all the tossing about. "Guess this counts up there for one of those things ya'd never thought y'all would see for the night, huh?" Hardhead gives Rodimus Prime a curt nod. "Fine." He slowly looks at the other Autobots and shakes his head. "Fine." He slowly moves away from his fellow Autobots and drifts off into the background. "Keep in mind when we all woke up, it was after a four million year period of stasis." Rodimus says towards Repugnus, his stance still casual with arms crossed. "So when we came out of it, we were awake...sort of, but not really awake when we stumbled off. I didn't realize it till afterwards, but the Quintesson's pod was empty. Somehow it seems like he woke up before us and managed to make a break for it. Which is a little curious because he technically would have had us at his mercy." Rod shrugs his shoulders slightly, as if to emphasize there's nothing he can do about it, "Either way don't anybody make any assumptions that Archaeonix, if we see him again, will in any way cooperate with us. He knowingly attempted to change history and had some sort of...crazy ambition of returning the Quintesson Empire to its glory days. I think with him at the head or somesuch. He only helped -us- when he was backed into a corner and saw a way he could get back to the current timeframe." A pause, and then Rod adds, "...being completely bat-dip crazy in four out of his five faces doesn't help either." One can almost see the glint of excitement and enthusiasm in Fortress Maximus' blue optics as he nods a few more times in agreement with Torque's offer. It's not often that the Headmaster leader gets to apply his original trade instead of the art of war that he has reluctantly taken up over the eons, "I wouldn't ask for anyone else besides you, Torque. I've seen your work before and it's exceptional. Nothing but the best for our newly returned comrade. Let me know when you're ready to assist on the project, Torque." Fortress Maximus' smile dims slightly as he becomes aware of the skepticisms that some of the other Autobots are showing, "Thank goodness Red Alert isn't here today, I'd hate to see the plethora of investigations and security check ups that he'd demand to have." The Headmaster leader's smile brightens once more, this time with a hint of pride, in response to Wheeljack, "You got it, Wheeljack. The difference is day and night. I'm sure Jetfire would be eager to discuss with you on how to further optimize Iacon's defenses and the defense network's integration with Omega Supreme." Dust Devil grins at Torque and Wheeljack. "I can volunteer ta be a lab assistant! Hey we can do a study in Kinetics!" He tosses Spindrift in Torque's direction. Hardhead hangs his head and shakes it as he walks away from the other Autobots who seem to be celebrating. Spindrift gets used as a ball! This isn't really anything new either. Hardhead leaves to the Landing Pad to the north. Torque beams at the compliments, her antennas tips flashing as she rubs the back of her helmet. "Ah well, I'm not one to brag too much on my skills, but thanks." She takes a moment to mull over the project as Wheeljack and Maximus talk amongst each other, rubbing her chin in thought before speaking, "I suppose once Jack gets settled in we can start drawing up schematics with him, then get the needed materials." She nods at her own plan, though perks up when Dust Devil calls to them, the femme turning just in time to see Spindrift flying right at her. Thankfully he's easy enough to catch, Torque holding the 'dillo tape close while snorting softly at Dust Devil, "Or we could run some tests to see why you always crash into medbay." She chuckles softly and places Spindrift on her own shoulder once he shifts out of armored ball mode. "And hey now, don't go tossin' around poor Spindrift." Spindrift pffs a bit as he's set on Torque's shoulder afterwards. "I'm kinda made for bein' thrown 'round y'know," he points out with a grin. Dust Devil grins. "Spin is my buddy....you should have seen us bashin’ Decepticons together!" "It's good to have you back," Impactor calls out to Wheeljack before turning and slowly pushing his way through the crowd to make his exit. Wheeljack turns back to the femme with a mischievous glimmer in his optics. "Who knows. We might have to go excavating to see if any of my old hidden labs are still standing on Cybertron while we're at it. It'd probably be an adventure in itself... and not having to hijack the Decepticon's space bridge to do it is totally a bonus." He glances past her at Dust Devil when she makes the remark about always crashing into things, and snickers a little softly. "The more things change, the more they stay the same..." he muses to himself, and waves to the Wrecker. "Don't you think just because I'm here now you can go busting up that harpoon whenever you want now!", he calls after Impactor jokingly. Impactor briefly waves back with his harpoon arm to Wheeljack as he makes his way through the crowd of Autobots, showing that he hasn't actually replaced the drill bit one yet. A small beep emits from Fortress Maximus' commlink, prompting the Headmaster leader to press against the left side of his helmed head, "Looks like my staffs are waiting for me to debrief them." He then gives both Torque and Wheeljack a nod, "I look forward to seeing both of your specifications for the new lab. Welcome back, Wheeljack." Having said that, Fortress Maximus quietly bids his own farewell and wades his way through to the back of the crowd and disappears into Autobot City where he'll presumably be stuck in another long meeting. Torque shrugs at the tape and the young bot, taking Spindrift from her shoulder and placing him gently back to the ground before seeing Maximus out with a wave and smirking lightly to Wheeljack. "An excavation, eh? Now that sounds like some fun. Who knows what stuff you left behind in there. Well.. I suppose you would, but still." She chuckles lightly. "But I'd best be getting back to medbay to finish up on the backlog while we were gone. If yah need anything feel free to stop in." Torque grins, patting the scientist on the shoulder, "But for now, you should take it easy I think, get settled in, maybe even meet some of the new Bots you'll be workin' with. I'll catch yah later." And with that she gives the remaining mechs a light wave before turning to head back inside the base. Rodimus Prime has actually been distracted for a bit as his radio has gone off in his audial port, prompting him to turn away from everyone and get into a long discussion of some sort, putting a deep frown on his features. Though it turns to a more neutral expression shortly afterwards as he looks up to the others. He can't help grinning a bit as at least the majority of the reactions are all positive. That's what he was hoping for. Poor Wheeljack, slingshotted into a time where many of his friends are dead and gone...and he's missed a significant amount of time where a lot of things have happened. A warm reception is just what he needed. This couldn't have turned out better, in Prime's opinion. Wheeljack nods to Maximus. "Lookin' forward to working with you big guy." And gives Torque another pat on the shoulder. "And you too missy. But if you'll excuse me, I should go get myself settled in." With that the inventor heads for the exit, albeit it's stopped several times in the progress by saying hello to familiar faces in the crowd, or a few new ones from admiring fans before he finally gets out the doors. Several minutes later would find him at the memorial for the Autobots that died in that fateful battle. That up until a few hours ago he'd been counted as one of, until fate played one of its mysterious little quirks. The usually jovial engineer was a bit on the solemn side, but it wasn't really sad, per say. Just paying his respects. It was a shame he couldn't save more of them.. but hell, he didn't even know for sure if this would work for him. And he knows a few of them would of objected anyways, especially if they knew how important their deaths had been to maintaining the time stream -and- allowing the better future to happen as it has. Optimus knew that, and surely others did to. "In the end, I got a lucky fluke... But I'm gonna make the most of it, and see to it that the future you all helped make sure there even was a world for it to be here on doesn't go to waste. Rest in piece, old friends. 'Til all are one." Quietly he turned and walked back out to Metroplex's exterior. Looking up at Autobot City brought back a mental smile. "Besides, this time has so much potential just waiting to be tapped yet! I can't wait to get my actuators dug into a new idea or two..." Category:2033